Increasingly, economic inequality has become a central problem of US society. Since the 1970s, wealth and income inequality has risen rapidly, affecting the work of nearly all nonprofits. But how should nonprofit actors conceptualize the economy and address the many economic problems that affect the people we serve, especially today, as more than 20 million Americans have lost their jobs?
This panel was presented at the 2020 Nonprofit Finance and Sustainability Conference, sponsored by Propel Nonprofits and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, on April 14, 2020, and is republished with their kind and generous permission.
In this one-hour webinar, panelists, who are all members of NPQ’s economic justice advisory committee, aim to provide some basic tools for thinking about and responding to economic challenges that affect us all.
Participating in the discussion are:
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- Gar Alperovitz, Co-Founder, The Democracy Collaborative, Washington, DC
- Emily Kawano, Co-Director, Wellspring Cooperative, Springfield, Massachusetts and Co-Founder, US Solidarity Economy Network
- Repa Mehka, President and CEO, Nexus Community Partners, St. Paul, Minnesota
- Steve Dubb, Senior Editor and Director, Economic Justice Program, Nonprofit Quarterly, Boston, MA (moderator)
This webinar explores:
- How a funder intermediary adopted an economic justice framework and adjusted it to meet the needs of the communities of color it serves.
- Three key stages for funders wishing to roll out economic justice grantmaking.
- How different types of economic systems have been deployed and how they relate to each other.
- What are central components of an economy based on principles of solidarity.
- Examples of where we can find some elements of a solidarity economy today.
- How to think about economic system change as a whole.
- How to pursue economic justice in the current pandemic emergency.
Resources
Gar Alperovitz, Co-Founder, Democracy Collaborative
- Gar Alperovitz, “Building a Democratic Economy: Sketch of a Pluralist Commonwealth,” Nonprofit Quarterly, spring 2020.
Emily Kawano, Co-Director, Wellspring Cooperative
- Emily Kawano, presentation slides.
- Emily Kawano, “Seven ways to build the solidarity economy,” Open Democracy, September 4, 2018.
- Emily Kawano, “Solidarity Economy: Building an Economy for People & Planet,” The Next System Project, May 1, 2018.
Repa Mehka, President and CEO, Nexus Community Partners
- Repa Mehka, presentation slides.
- Repa Mehka, “Community Wealth Building: Ownership,” St. Paul: MN, Nexus Community Partners, 2020.
